Peeling more layers

We’re not here to write an astrological biography of the accused. We are here in an effort to understand some of how ‘a man who appeared to have it all’ could murder his beautiful wife, Allison Baden-Clay.

A murder, which Gerard Baden-Clay stands accused of; is alleged to have committed on the night of 19th April, 2012. A murder, which so many of us are struggling to come to terms with even today, many months later. How did the ‘who, what, when, where and whys’ come to happen?

When we ask ‘how’ that is an indication that we lack the tools of perception in a situation. Psychologically, we are struggling to comprehend how this could happen in little old Brisbane. In an effort to understand, we pick up an alternative bag of tools for a different ‘angle-on-the-dangle’. Here with me, we happen to be using the tools of astrology…

Please note that this is a subjective method of enquiry; that we do not claim to be in the realm of science.

Basically in the posts up until now, we’ve explored the characters of Gerard Baden-Clay and his parents through the interaction and astrological interpretation of the symbology of the planets.

We’ve poked around the entrails of the interaction between these characters; the interaction between different snapshots of the heavens.

We’ve generated horoscope wheels and bi-wheels to form opinions on the general character of the individuals.

We have a handle on the nature and nurture aspects of the accused, Gerard Baden Clay according to astrology.

We have some idea of his parents Nigel and Elaine Baden-Clay, at least in relation to the accused.

What we haven’t done is address predictive astrology ‘over time’ and I reckon it’s time we did. In order to explore how the accused developed from child to adult and the interaction between himself and his parents in real time, we need to go back to September 1970 when Gerard Baden-Clay was born and ‘progress’ to the date when his wife Allison was murdered; a murder he is alleged to have committed in April 2012.

We can delve into the realm of solar arc theory as a method of predicting personal challenges in a person’s life. We can look at the good things as well, like meeting life-partners, having children and the like, however that is not our focus here. The purpose of this exploration into the psyche of Gerard Baden-Clay is, as I have stated elsewhere, to explore the tension aspects of astrology rather than the sugar and spice of trines and sextiles. We’ll leave that to the magazines.

In predictive astrology apart from the snapshots in the heavens, there is an uncannily accurate method, which can reveal predicted behaviour. It is known as progression by solar arc. Before I go any further in this regard, first allow me to share a little background.

We are born with the planets in a particular pattern; our natal horoscope. Without stretching the imagination too far, we could say that this pattern of planets; snapshot of the heavens is our ‘astrological DNA’. The interaction between these planets (our pattern) stays with us for our lives.

It is when the actual planets in the heavens orbit to create tension with our ‘astrological DNA’, we react to the symbolic energy of these planets in the heavens according to our unique pattern. Same, same as when the heavens open, it rains at my place and I get wet and if it’s not raining at your place at the same time then you don’t get wet.

That’s basically as far as we usually go with astrology. We open a magazine and see what’s in ‘our stars’; the symbolic meaning of what planet in the heavens is currently transiting the zodiac of where our own Sun is, or raining on our parade.

I want to take you to the next layer; share the next layer down, reveal more of the Baden-Clay astrological story. We’ll still be in our familiar solar system; in the realm of Sun signs, but it is more subjective, as is psychology.

Progression by solar arc is as it suggests, ‘solar’; ie relating to the Sun. For those who need to know the theory, here’s a brief explanation.

In solar arc theory one degree = roughly one year in real time. I say roughly because it requires precise calculation and I leave that to the computer software department. Using this method, if we progress/move the Sun by one degree forward in a horoscope (progress by one year of life in real time) then all the other planets in the horoscope move along one degree as well. They have to move as a team, otherwise we’d all be operating under Rafferty’s rules.

For example, Gerard Baden-Clay’s Sun at the time of his birth is 16 degrees Virgo. That is 16 (of a total of 30) degrees within the zodiac constellation of Virgo.

If we rotate this to the age when his family emigrated to Australia (a couple of months after his 10th birthday), then the progression would be 16+10; to 26 degrees Virgo, or thereabouts. All the planets in his horoscope would move the approximate ten degrees forward – Mars would be at 13 degrees Virgo; Node at 12 degrees Virgo etc.

We would then create a suggested snapshot of this subjective arrangement as a wheel and compare it with his ‘astrological dna’ to see if there are any major tensions. We would create a bi-wheel with the inner wheel as his natal horoscope and the outer wheel as a subjective ‘Gerard Baden-Clay age 10’.

I’ve done a quick check and frankly there aren’t any major indications in the horoscope for the accused at this age and we wouldn’t expect any. There would be transits in the heavens around this time for sure, however no major progressions.

We cannot expect to see a big blip on the radar as he is, after all only 10; is under the influence of his parents and not independent of them; the move really had nothing to do with him personally and he had already had relocation tensions in his life twice before this date.

As a small baby Gerard Baden-Clay had relocated from England to Northern Rhodesia with his mother; at the age of two the threesome of mother, father and child moved south to Rhodesia.

Two siblings had been born in the intervening years before the next move; two siblings who ousted him, albeit temporarily, from top dog.

All these happenings would be revealed in his horoscope wheel, however we need not cover every bump in the road of his life. This is not the Truman Show.

By using solar arc progressions, we can predict (in hindsight) of when major challenges occurred in a child’s development (useful if we are not privy to the facts) and looking forward in time, we can suggest the timing of challenges in the future of an adult’s life.

This is one of the main reasons that clients continue to seek out astrologers beyond a basic analysis of their natal horoscope.

Presidents and royals had astrologers in their courts for this reason. There is even a branch of astrology, which deals with countries and electoral decisions. In modern history, Nancy Reagan was reputed to have had a resident astrologer, while her husband was President of the US. However we are not in such illustrious company, despite the Neptunian dreams of a mother, which has all ended in tears.

With the astrological analysis of the basic character of Gerard Baden-Clay under our belts, we can attempt to predict behaviour according to the symbology of the planets as they progressed through his life, but before we do there is one point in time, which repeatedly jumps up and down demanding my attention. Pick me; pick me! No need to ask is there! It’s bwana of course.

In an earlier post Bwana two, I shared Nigel Baden Clay’s own words of his earliest memory.

“Nigel’s earliest memory is of being taken shooting in Kitwe, when he was about 3. Gervas shot a teal and then couldn’t find it. By luck, Nigel had marked it and found it! Gervas was so chuffed, he gave Nigel a tickey when they got home. That was when the shooting bug infected him and Nigel has shared his father’s love of shooting all his life!”

For a child to hold a memory so strongly into adulthood, it has to have been memorable for specific reasons. This memory also holds significance as a modelling behaviour, which that child will carry into adulthood in a toolkit for ‘successful modelling of a child’ unless, as an adult, the individual is able to improve this model (usually by communication with a parent, spouse or other adult) by recognising it for what it is – an immature model as opposed to an adult model. Communication is the key to modelling.

The reason for including the quote in my introduction to solar arc progression is that it is a relevant example in our case.

If we refer to the snapshot of the heavens at the time of birth of Nigel Baden-Clay, father of the accused, we note that his Ascendant is very close to his natal Sun.

So close in fact that at about 3+ years his Ascendant would progress to exact alignment with his Sun; the age to which he refers as his earliest memory. No wonder Nigel remembers it. And what do we have when Ascendant and Sun get together? Well hello, ego! Here I am!

When we think of it, the abovementioned, ‘pick me; pick me’ would be typical behaviour of a three year old now wouldn’t it?

The basic difference between a solar arc progression and a transit of a planet in the heavens in real-time, is that a progression lasts between 6-12 months whereas a transit only lasts as long as the planet is in aspect. Eg a transiting Sun would last a day whereas the Sun in a solar progression goes on and on and on. The ego is relentless in its demands.

For our purposes here, we can suggest that this psychological event, Nigel Baden-Clay’s first memory, would have been interpreted by this three year-old child as expected modelling behaviour for parenthood. He is likely to have expected his sons to behave in a similar manner in order to ‘share their father’s love’; to earn their father’s love; to bond with their father. It had to be earned.

A child would then tend to take this further and believe that ‘love’ had to be earned and was not given freely. The child would believe that ‘love’ came at a price. If this were indeed the case and astrological analysis to date would tend to agree, then it goes a long way to reinforcing the Saturn retrograde phenomenon in the charts of Nigel Baden-Clay’s sons.

An Ascendant solar arc progression to conjunct Sun is a once in a lifetime event for an individual. Note: We don’t all experience this event – it depends on where the Sun is located in our personal horoscopes.

Gerard Baden-Clay’s Ascendant progressed to his natal Sun around-about when he worked at the boy scouts HQ Kandersteg, in Switzerland, while he was on his honeymoon.

This man-child, the accused, achieved (in his mind) the ultimate bonding exercise with his father, descendant of the Chief Scout. Gerard Baden-Clay’s Ascendant-Sun progression cycle would equate with ‘tagging the dead duck’; bringing home the ‘trophy’.

A Saturn retrograde child always tries to please ‘daddy’ and as an adult, unconsciously sets up the ‘failure to please’ in order to reinforce the behaviour learned in early childhood. Whether the teal duck is of the wrong colour, cross-eyed or by achieving the position of ‘acting director’ at Kandersteg, it would never be good enough. Acting director would never be ‘the director’.

Whichever way we look at it, the failure to achieve love is a cycle of unworthiness. Gerard never gets his tickey or his tick of approval; such is the Saturn retrograde. Learned behaviour, repeated in adulthood reveals cycles, which can go off in bizarre and even dangerous directions.

By emulating his parents relationship and marrying Allison on the same date as his parent’s wedding anniversary, I suggest that there is significance in this date for the accused; a significance which has been reinforced throughout the life of the child. The day and month is 23rd August; it is ‘nigelaine day’.